MAJOR GAPS have been exposed in health services aimed at providing treatment for the estimated 3,000 perpetrators of sexual abuse in the community, a new report has found.
Research shows the availability of treatment or assessment services is patchy throughout the country, with no access to any services in some parts of the State.
It also raises concerns that some services may not be providing an accurate picture of the risks posed by sex offenders because they are not following evidence-based practice.
As a result, there are question marks over the validity of official information being provided to judges by some health services.
The research, Closing the Gap: Services for those with Harmful Sexual Behaviour, is written by forensic psychotherapist Alan Corbett.
It was commissioned by Nota Ireland, the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers, and is based on a survey of almost 100 agencies and health professionals who provide services to people with harmful sexual behaviour.
The report estimates there are at least 3,000 perpetrators of sexual abuse in the community, based on the volume of people being treated in services and comparisons with other jurisdictions, such as the UK.
Most of this group pose a risk to children rather than adults.
It estimates that 90 per cent of sex offenders remain in the community due to factors such as no complaint having been made to gardaí, cases not being prosecuted or non-custodial sentences.
Many of these perpetrators are known to the Health Service Executive (HSE), although the criminal justice system may have no ongoing role with the abusers.
The report says access to services is poor, as centres of good practice that exist are either isolated and not geographically spread across the country.
It also warns of problems in the future as "current service provision is neither equipped to deal adequately with the current scale of the problem nor its likely growth".
Its main recommendation is for a national strategy which would protect the public, adults and children from sexual harm by providing funding for evidence-based services for those who have perpetrated sexual abuse, either convicted or unconvicted.
In a foreword to the report, Olive Travers, chairwoman of Nota Ireland, says such a step is vital to improving services and better protecting the community.
"The implementation of an evidence-based, national model for the assessment and treatment of those identified as being at risk of harming children, is essential in closing the gaps identified in this research," she writes.
The report says funding for a national service can be sourced from the redeployment of money being spent by the HSE on services from the private sector, as well as on placing young people overseas for treatment.
It also says the costs to the State of treating the most serious sexual abuse cases - which typically cost about €100,000 - would be recouped many times over by preventing the creation of further victims. Lack of funding emerged in the report as the main reason for the poor provision of services.
Many respondents in the survey described "false economies" where the failure to invest in assessment, treatment and residential programmes resulted in untreated offenders abusing children.
This went on to cause immense trauma and injury, and ultimately costs the State in terms of custodial options and additional services for subsequent victims.
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Children at risk are being failed by gaps in service: News focus: Healthplus, page 5
